http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/21/asia/indo.php
Indonesia courts role as peacemaker in the Muslim world By Donald Greenlees Published: May 21, 2007 JAKARTA: In April, Indonesia staged a gathering of Sunni and Shiite clerics and scholars in an effort to contribute to reconciliation in Iraq, a conflict where the death toll is overwhelmingly the result of Muslims killing Muslims. In August, it hopes to bring the warring Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah together at a conference to which it will also invite political figures and scholars from the United States and Europe. With several recent efforts at playing peacemaker, Indonesia, home to about 15 percent of the world's Muslims, has signaled a desire to take a bigger role in shaping solutions to the problems of the Islamic world. As a democracy that promotes a moderate brand of Islam, it seeks to demonstrate how predominantly Muslim states can profitably embrace modernity, better governance and globalization. As a country with good relations with both Muslim nations and the West, it hopes to serve as a bridge for mutual understanding. Since it won independence from the Dutch in 1948, Indonesia has largely limited its diplomatic activism to its immediate neighborhood in Asia and to the nonaligned movement. Although it long advocated an independent Palestinian state and played a role in peace negotiations with Muslim separatists in the southern Philippines, it tended to avoid direct participation in the convulsions of the Muslim world and adopted a low-key role in bodies like the Organization of the Islamic Conference. But under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who won Indonesia's first direct presidential election, in 2004, all that has started to change. "We may not be the leader of a Middle East peace process, but we can always contribute," Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said in an interview. "Countries in the Middle East have been so deeply involved in the problems of the region for so long a time that they can get too focused on some specific aspects. "We, who follow events in the Middle East from a distance, can see a larger, clear picture. Hence we are able to produce some fresh ideas that might be helpful in the quest for a solution." Yudhoyono's approach was on display last year in Saudi Arabia when he urged Muslims to liberate themselves from isolationism, "to be at the forefront of globalism" and to "embrace technology and modernity." He said Islamic countries needed to promote better governance and to build bridges with the West. Implicit in his message was the suggestion that Islamic countries would be wise to follow Indonesia down the path to liberal democracy. Alwi Shihab, Yudhoyono's special adviser on the Middle East and a former foreign minister, has been more emphatic. At a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Mecca in December 2005, he said that there was a "democracy deficit" in Muslim countries. "The tradition of Islam has nothing to contradict participatory politics and good governance," he told an audience that included King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. "Indeed, democracy is fully commensurate with the ethical and legal precepts of this great religion." Indonesia is itself a relatively new democracy. After 32 years of authoritarian rule under former President Suharto, Indonesia held its first free parliamentary elections in 1999, followed by the direct elections for president in 2004. Democracy has become increasingly entrenched, supported by the country's leading Muslim organizations. The growth of democracy has in turn strengthened the voice of Islam in Indonesia. Muslims make up about 88 percent of the population of 225 million. Some districts have used a new autonomy to impose aspects of the Islamic legal code in local regulations. Foreign Minister Wirajuda said that in Indonesia's "more open and democratic" environment it was necessary for foreign policy to reflect a popular desire for the country to be more engaged in the affairs of the Islamic world. Moreover, he said, Indonesia had the experience of contributing to peace efforts in Cambodia and southern Philippines, as well as solving a Muslim separatist conflict in its own province of Aceh. "We have our own credentials," he said. "Perhaps from our experience we can contribute something." The United States certainly sees Indonesia, with its tolerant brand of Islam, as a valuable ally among Islamic countries. In a speech in Jakarta in March, Eric John, the deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, welcomed Indonesia's "increased activism and leadership" and added that it had "an obvious role to play" as the biggest Muslim nation in issues like the future of Iraq and the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan. Indonesia's decision to become more involved in the conflicts in Islamic countries might be popular at home, but the government has not always deliberately pursued populism. That was evident last November when Yudhoyono met President George W. Bush for six hours in the town of Bogor. At a joint news conference after their meeting, Yudhoyono declined to call for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq despite Indonesia's firm opposition to the U.S. invasion in 2003. Instead, Yudhoyono put forward a gradual solution to the problem of Iraq, what U.S. officials refer to as his "three R's" - reconciliation among factions in Iraq, the replacement of U.S. forces by a Muslim-dominated coalition under United Nations auspices and reconstruction. So far, Jakarta has not had many takers for its proposal. It is a problem Indonesia has experienced with some of its other initiatives too. While the government wants to make a practical contribution in its nascent role of Muslim peacemaker, its efforts have yet to have much impact. The Sunni-Shiite conference in Bogor on April 3 and 4 brought together Islamic figures from eight countries, but some top Iraqi and Iranian leaders did not attend. Indonesia faces similar problems in arranging the planned conference of Hamas and Fatah, now twice delayed. Rizal Sukma, who heads the international relations committee of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second largest Muslim social organization, said "the new foreign policy project" of greater engagement in Islamic affairs, while a "significant departure," would have to be carefully managed to avoid causing tensions at home and in relations with other Islamic countries. "We have to be realistic about our ability to promote a moderate Islamic and democratic agenda outside Indonesia," said Sukma, author of the 2003 book "Islam in Indonesian Foreign Policy." "It can serve as a double-edged sword if we are not careful to define what kind of Islamic influence we want to project in our foreign policy." Last September, Wirajuda told the UN General Assembly that peace, development and democracy were "inseparable," yet easily paralyzed by violence. He said that nowhere was this "more poignantly true than in the Middle East." "The challenge of human rights and the rule of law can only be met by governments that rule by the consent of the governed, governments that are elected by and accountable to the people," he said. The difficulty Indonesia faces in navigating issues of close concern to its own Islamic voters and other countries was evident in March, when the UN Security Council decided to impose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. Last year, when Indonesia was elected to a rotating seat on the Security Council, Wirajuda said Jakarta would present "the views, interests and desires of the developing world, including the Muslim world." But on March 24, it lined up with the major powers and voted for the sanctions - despite consistently supporting Iran's right to pursue the peaceful use of nuclear energy and boasting of close diplomatic ties to Tehran. That position was criticized by some Indonesian Muslim groups. "We think Indonesian foreign policy is growing closer to American interests than standing on its own principles," said Muhammad Ismail Yusanto, a spokesman for Hizbut Tahrir, which favors Indonesia's becoming an Islamic state.
<<dot_h.gif>>
